What I need is h.264 and h.265 codecs mainly for anime series, and one or two 3.0 usb ports for HDs, planning to get a 10 Tb to put all my video files in one place, I was going to get the mi box 4k on amazon us. but saw mixed reviews so decided to come here for suggestions, I will use it mainly for playing files from the hard drive and occasionally stream 4k content. So should I get the mi box or what other android box should I consider buying? Thanks for reading.
i tried a lots of android tvbox and finally the best one it's the beelink GTKing. expensive but the only tvbox who receive ota update regularly. it have 2 usb3 and 1 usb 2. optical output, micro SD card.
The answer will always be the sheild. Spending money on anything else is just a waste and you'll regret it. Yeah it's expensive, but my 2015 shield is hands down the best supported piece of tech I've owned. Sorry to be so blunt, but it's a universal truth. Like the commenter above said the pro is the ideal one the tube isn't bad just has a 32 bit limitation and not all apps work, so either see if the ones you want are supported or wait. Personally I'd wait.
What you need for 1080p 10bit H264 aka Anime is a media player with a decently powerful CPU package to CPU Software decode that non standard encoded video content. It has to be Software decoded.
The only cheap devices that know of that will do that are the AMLogic S922X devices that have a pretty powerful 6 Core CPU package. A CPU combo that is actually more powerful than a Nvidia Shield.
Such S922X chipset devices are the Beelink GT-King, Ugoos AM6 and the popular ODROID N2. AND i strongly suggest you run CoreELEC Kodi on them from a microSDHC.
CoreELEC OS has a built in Samba server for transferring files to / from connected USB hard drives.
https://forum.kodi.tv/showthread.php?tid=332180
If you also want to stream Copy protected, paid for video services - eg. Netflix, Prime and more then your only option is a Nvidia Shield. Because it has all the proper HDCP / DRM Keys and Netflix approval and licensing.
Just be aware when Software decoding 1080p Anime for an extended length of time you better make damn sure the media player chipset has proper thermal cooling.
The Mi Box doesn't support H264 Hi10 and the CPU is too weak to software decode it.
If you main purpose is to play H264 Hi10 then I would suggest a device like the RockPi 4.
It has a dedicated hardware accelerated video decoder to play H264 Hi10 and 10-bit H265.
Amlogic S922x devices and the Shield have a faster CPU to software decode it but video playback is still not as smooth and the color output not as great as using hardware video decoding.
You could even pick up a cheap RK322x or RK3328 device and install LibreELEC on it and also hardware decode H264 Hi10 but you need to boot it from a micro-sd card.
If you want to stream legal 4K content from Netflix, Amazon Prime then only the Shield or Mi Box can do that. But other devices can also stream 4K, just not from these services.
Nvidia shield pro would be your best option but they're hard to find atm.